Books Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis  by Robert D. Putnam (Author)

"Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis" by Robert D. Putnam explores the growing opportunity gap and social mobility crisis affecting American children today compared to previous generations. Drawing on qualitative interviews and quantitative data from diverse U.S. communities, Putnam shows how children from less-educated and lower-income families face much steeper challenges in achieving upward mobility.

The book contrasts Putnam’s own generation growing up in Port Clinton, Ohio, with the current youth, illustrating widening disparities in family structure, parenting, education, and community resources. Schools and neighborhoods have become more segregated by class, reducing social capital and mentoring opportunities for disadvantaged children. The decline in shared community investment in all children—once known as “our kids”—marks a crisis in the American Dream.